It’s been a difficult time for the gay rights charity Stonewall. Chief Executive Nancy Kelley is due to leave her job next week, after a torturous year that saw the Allison Bailey case and numerous employers withdraw from the charity’s ‘Diversity Champions’ scheme. Iain Anderson, Stonewall’s Chair, was probably hoping to put all this behind him when he sat down with Sky’s Beth Rigby for an in-depth interview on the charity’s work.
Unfortunately for Anderson, Rigby raised some of the thorniest issues with regards to trans rights, including elite sports and single-sex spaces. Asked about trans swimmer Lia Thomas beating two biological women on a podium, he replied ‘We’re working our way through on this’ and ‘We want everyone to play their full part in society.’ He suggested that he would be open to engaging with organisations that take a more skeptical view of trans rights, telling Rigby: ‘My challenge to the LGB Alliance, my challenge to those that don’t agree with me is, is there an opportunity to come together.’ He was also asked if he agreed with Nancy Kelley’s suggestion that lesbians who don’t want to date trans women may feel that way because of ‘societal prejudices’; Anderson could only reply that ‘those are not my words.’ Hardly a ringing endorsement of the outgoing CEO…
Less than 24 hours after the interview, Stonewall released a 1,029-word statement on its website, complaining that ‘the interview was supposed to be an opportunity to talk about 10 years of marriage equality, LGBTQ+ veterans, and Rainbow Laces 10.’ It appeared to contradict several of Anderson’s comments in the interview. On trans sport, Stonewall declared: ‘We urge sport governing bodies not to exclude the tiny number of trans people competing an elite level’. With regards to ‘anti-trans groups’, the chairty claims ‘We have never used our precious resources on dialogue with people who are vehemently against LGBTQ+ communities, and that will remain true.’ Anderson is meanwhile quoted as saying:
We remain at the forefront of campaigning for trans people’s rights, and I’m sorry if yesterday’s interview caused concern amongst the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. My priority is fighting for trans people & securing a trans equality strategy that will support the trans community.
It begs the question: if the chairman is forced to U-turn on his remarks, who really speaks for Stonewall? You can watch the interview in full below.
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